


frozen knight

by ebonynightwriter



Series: Shallura Week 2017 [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Universe, Crash Landing, Drama, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, One-Shot, Shallura Week 2017, Trapped in Storm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-22 15:50:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11383386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebonynightwriter/pseuds/ebonynightwriter
Summary: When their mission on planet Kirosus goes awry he takes her to the Black Lion with him, thinking it would be the safest place for her to be.





	frozen knight

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N:** I say this is for the first prompt of the ship week but in reality it's my way of kicking off the nine months of writing rust as I get back into writing this ship / fandom. (so it's only really related to the prompt if you squint. sorry!)
> 
> -.-
> 
> **[shallura week (2017) // day 1](http://ebonynightwriter.tumblr.com/tagged/mine:%20shallura%20week%202017)** · time / space
> 
> -.-

Princess and Paladin – noble and knight. It’s not hard to feel almost fairytale-like dressed in his Voltron armor, living in a castle in the far reaches of the known universe. And Shiro plays the part well. He leads the group, commands the team and treats her with respect. He calls her by title, listens to her opinions and makes sure to voice his own when there’s cause for concern. For even as ancient as she is at times, she is also young, not quite ready for the burdens of planets and wars but forced to take them nonetheless. So that’s why when their mission on planet Kirosus goes awry, and they have two fleets of Galra warships looming at their backs, he takes her to the Black Lion with him as they leave the surface, thinking it would be the safest place for her to be.

But the castleship is far beyond the atmosphere, around the ice fields of Kirosus’ sister planet, Marenki. Within the dark-clouded surface lies a storm of snow and wind that knows no end – one that would freeze smaller ships to the core if they had the misfortune to get too close. Even knowing this, dodging a mess of ice chucks seems favorable over a barrage of Galra blasts, so the team takes it as a “shortcut” in hopes of putting some distance between them and the enemy ships.

Of course, the Galra follow.

_“Shiro, you’ve got a squadron of fighters approaching from your left flank!”_ Kolivan says, his rough bursting through the castleship’s com.

“Lance and I will handle them!” Keith replies, maneuvering his lion at a sharp angle to get around the ice debris. The Blue Lion follows suit, and within moments blaster fire breaks through the ice.

_“More fighters on the right!”_

“Hunk!” Pidge says. “Help me slow them down!”

“Got it!”

Shiro watches as his team breaks apart, forcing down the worry and anticipation building in his gut. He sets his eyes ahead as Allura leans in close behind him, hand placed on the top of his seat. The castleship comes in and out of view between the large chunks of ice, waiting for them to break through.

“We’re almost there,” she says, and Shiro imagines the stern look on her face as she speaks. “Coran, get ready to raise the particle barrier the moment everyone is through. We don’t want to get stuck fending off all the ships on the planet.”

“Yes, Princess,” Coran replies. 

Shiro adjusts the controls in his hands, weaving through the ice ease, despite the Black Lion’s greater size. Just a few more clusters, and they’d be out of here. The shouts of victory sound in his ears as the team takes down the fighters.

“Alright! We’re good to go!” Lance says. “Heading your way, Shiro.”

“Got it,” he grins. “Good work every—”

“—Shiro, look out!” Allura yells.

He sees the fighters a second too late. They hit the Black Lion hard, sending her spiraling into a hunk of ice. Shiro holds the controls firm, but the Lion refused to budge. They were being sucked into the gravity of Marenki.

“Shiro!” Keith shouts. 

Allura grips the seat as they descend into the world. Wind and ice pelt the exterior, as all signs of light fade from view. Shiro tries the controls one more time—

_“Hold on!”_

They fall into the storm.

.

.

.

Shiro wakes, softly and slowly, with a haze surrounding him that makes everything feel like a dream. His vision blurs at the edge of the console, a sheet of whirling darkness whips outside the eyes of the Black Lion, now gone bleak with dim purple light. He places a weak hand on the loose control handle, a white puff of air escapes his lips as he lowers his throbbing head. The world spins around him. He’s so _cold_ —

He remembers.

“Princess!” he calls, neck snapping around as he looks into the Lion’s darkened corridor. He blinks into the darkness, finally finding her at the end of the helm, laying between the open door and he trips, stumbling over the edge of the chair and his own two feet as he rushes over to her. The chill in his body all but forgotten.

“Princess!” he says again, lifting her from the ground. “Allura! Are you alright?”

There’s no response, and for a dark, lonely moment the room is filled only by the sound of his heavy breaths. It’s a short instance, yet long – feeling something like a lifetime before she finally lurches and coughs strongly, eyelids fluttering as she comes to. Shiro sighs, shoulders sagging as tension and panic leave him, and his heart races in his chest like a beating drum. Her brow tightens for a moment in confusion, and she studies his face in the dim light.

“Shiro?” she asks, slowly propping herself up with a hand. “What happened?”

“We crashed,” he replies. “It looks like the impact knocked the power out.”

Allura immediately looks toward the control console, and leans forward to stand. But the second she’s back on her feet again, she falls back, hand pressed against her head. His hands wrap around her shoulders.

“Careful,” he says, keeping her steady. “There’s no telling how much we got knocked around when we hit.”

“I’m fine…” she says, wincing through obvious pain, and after a moment of silence and concentration on her part her earrings light her face with a bright purple glow.

“Coran,” she speaks to the air. “Do you copy?”

A beat. Nothing.

“Coran,” she says again, voice agitated. “Do you copy?”

Another beat. Silence hangs and Allura sighs, stepping toward the console.

“Hey, take it easy,” Shiro says, keeping himself behind her all the way. She takes the seat at the front, puts the controls in her hands and gives them a firm push. Nothing happens.

“Come on!” she nearly shouts as her earrings light up again. “Coran, Paladins! Do you copy?”

Silence.

Fists pound on the armrests as she lets out a soft _‘quiznak!’_

“The storm’s interfering with the communications,” she says. “We can’t get a signal through!”

“Looks like that’s not the only thing it’s affecting,” he says, staring ahead where a layer of ice and snow was thickening across the window. 

“We have to get the Black Lion operational again,” Allura says. “We’ll be buried if we stay here for too long.”

Shiro nods, heading to the back of the helm. “There should be some tools here we can use to access the console panels.”

Kneeling before the supply cabinet, Shiro lets out a deep breath before pulling the tools out. He brings them to the front, and he and Allura each take place on either side of the console, unlatching the panels to reveal a fine-tuned arrangement of tubes and wires. Shiro looks in as best he can and reaches inside, pushing away the ones at the front to get a better view.

“I don’t see anything wrong with these connections,” he says, giving it another look around. “Could the energy source have been damaged by the impact?”

“The Lions are powered by the most powerful crystalized meteors in the known universe,” Allura says, digging within her own forest of wires. “It would take something more than a small planet impact to cause them to crack. There has to be something else…”

Stretching her limb far into the duct, Allura snaps something back into place with a satisfying _snap!_ Within moments, the console lights up with a burst of purple, and status screens show across the frozen window. 

Coran’s voice crackles through the helm.

_“Allura! Shiro!”_ he says. _“Are you there?”_

“Coran! Yes, we’re here!” Allura says, arm resting on the pilot’s seat, face lit with joy. 

_“Oh thank the ancients, are you two okay? Err, wait, never mind that! Listen, we’re still dealing with the Galra so we might have some trouble getting to you. So just keep old Blacky turned on and we’ll get to you in no time fl—”_

The lights dim. Allura leans forward.

“Coran? Coran!” she says. Hastily, she reaches up and pushes the Black Lions controls with no avail. The creature was still – as silent as it was before. Allura goes limp, hand slack on the control and she slumps back to the floor. Through the flickering glow of the console, Shiro can see the look of hopelessness on her face. It’s an unsettling expression – one he’s never seen on her before. She’s always so fearless, so strong and unrelenting – seeing her this way is like being punched by Sendak’s arm ten times over.

He crosses the small amount of floor between them, the cold biting at his fingers as he reaches for her shoulder.

“Allura.”

She looks at him, and the Lion goes dark.

.

.

.

Shiro can’t see anything through the darkness, but he feels the hours pass as the cold seeps into the Lion’s hull. His chest plate lies at his feet, and Allura rests against him, each of them trying to conserve as much warmth as they can by pressing to each other. But the cold had made its way to his arm, rendering the enhanced limb useless and burdened – the metal freezing at the point where it made contact with his skin. The pain was sharp at first, but now it had lessened to something of a dulled throb. He couldn’t tell if that was good or not – something told him it wouldn’t matter.

He stares into the nothingness for what feels like ages – her voice breaks the silence.

“Shiro?”

He blinks.

“Yes, Princess?”

“Nothing,” she says with a tired voice, turning her face into his chest. “I just wanted to make sure you were awake.”

“Right,” he breathes, head leaning forward.

A long moment passes. His eyes grow heavy.

“Shiro?”

“Yes, Allura?”

“Where is your hand?”

“Here,” he says, reaching to the darkness beside him. “Right here.”

Shaking, she finds it, giving his fingers a firm squeeze. It’s so cold Shiro can’t feel it, not really, but he does the same to hers.

“Don’t let go,” she says, giving a heavy sigh. “The others will be here soon...”

Shiro blinks and shuts his eyes for a long time, putting his face against her hair.

“I won’t.”

.

.

.

In his fading, frosted vision, he thinks he sees a light shining through the snow.

 


End file.
